First woman manager to carry on El Casino family legacy

Barbara Martinez will become the first woman to manage El Casino Ballroom, continuing her family’s decades-long legacy of preserving the historic South Tucson venue as a hub for community celebration.

First woman manager to carry on El Casino family legacy
Since 1947, El Casino has been a popular local spot for quinceañeras, weddings, graduations, performances, political events and more. Susan Barnett / Tucson Spotlight.

After decades of family stewardship and community celebration, El Casino Ballroom is entering a new chapter.

Barbara Martinez will become the first woman to manage the historic South Tucson venue, continuing a legacy her father and grandfather helped preserve and shaping its future for the next generation.

El Casino “is part of Tucson's history, culture, and tradition,” said Fred Martinez, El Casino’s current manager and Barbara Martinez’s father.

Since 1947, El Casino has been a popular local spot for quinceañeras, weddings, graduations, performances, political events and more. Earlier this month, hundreds of community members gathered at El Casino to celebrate former Pima County Supervisor Adelita Grijalva’s victory in the Congressional District 7 Democratic primary.

A windstorm in October 1991 nearly ended El Casino’s 45-year run, tearing off the roof and causing extensive damage.

Fred Martinez watched as the Latin American Social Club’s board of directors, which owns the venue, made little effort to restore it.

The damage revealed that the ballroom and club were hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, owing more than $200,000 in taxes and to vendors, and nearly the same amount in repairs.

Fred Martinez and his father, Raul “Butch” Martinez, worked with new board members and staffers to rally volunteers, raise funds and restore the venue.

El Casino Ballroom can host up to 800 people, and its large original wooden dance floor is considered the best in Tucson. Courtesy of El Casino Ballroom.

After a nine-year closure following the windstorm, El Casino finally reopened its doors in 2000.

“My dad always had foresight. He would say …, I'm not going to see it, but I know you guys are going to rebuild it to see. And we did,” Fred Martinez said, recalling the years when El Casino was condemned and pigeons flew above its wooden dance floor.

He describes El Casino as the cycle of life, with many generations passing through.

“You grow up here as a kid, running around on that dance floor, then you learn how to dance, then you're dancing, then you're dancing at your own wedding reception, or somebody's, and then, you know, other events,” Fred Martinez said. “I'm sort of proud to say that me and my wife will be having our 50th anniversary later on.”

For Fred Martinez, preserving the history of El Casino is what matters most. He started working there as a teenager, first as a bartender before eventually becoming manager.

Now, his children and grandchildren are following in his footsteps, working as bartenders and servers under one condition: they must stay in school.

With proud eyes and a big smile, he speaks warmly of his daughter, confident she has all the skills needed to manage El Casino.

But beyond her business skills and familiarity with the venue, Barbara Martinez has something else that gives her father confidence she will carry on the legacy.

“She's got it here,” said Fred Martinez, pointing to his heart.

Barbara Martinez is not new to El Casino. She remembers running all around its wooden dance floor with her cousins while her grandfather worked in his office. A hairstylist by trade, she has always felt at home in the space that shaped her childhood.

El Casino Ballroom Manager Fred Martinez is passing the torch to his daughter, Barbara Martinez, in early 2026. Diana Ramos / Tucson Spotlight.

El Casino is her heart and her home.

“I'm excited. I'm proud. I am just extremely honored, you know, when everything came out and then I got voted onto the (LASC) board and became the first woman (to be on the board) in 93 years,” she said. “I knew my grandfather was smiling. I know my dad is proud. My mom is proud and my whole family is proud.”

Barbara Martinez will be transitioning into the manager position of El Casino early next year, saying she’s ready to step into her father’s shoes. She currently works alongside her dad, saying she’s willing to listen and learn from his years of managing experience.

But Fred Martinez says it is a two-way learning experience: as he shared his knowledge, Barbara Martinez has also shared her ideas to upgrade for the next generation.

She has a vision and wants to make improvements in décor and lighting. Her ultimate goal is to reopen the other half of the venue that was destroyed in the 1991 storm.

The Martinezes believe that El Casino is more than a place for celebration: it is a space for the community to gather. They hold events on Sundays to support the community, including fundraisers and mariachi high school performances.

“The beauty in seeing someone get married here, they have their baby shower here, then they have their quinceañeras here all within the same family, and then you know later on maybe to have a celebration of life here,” Barbara Martinez said. “Being a part of all of those moments means so much and it's a beautiful thing to see it from start to finish.”

El Casino celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2022, and the Martinezes have high hopes to continue that run.

“Hopefully and more than certainly my daughter and my grandkids, they'll be here for the hundred-year centennial,” Fred Martinez said.

Diana Ramos is a University of Arizona alum and Tucson Spotlight reporter. Contact her at dianacramos@arizona.edu.

Tucson Spotlight is a community-based newsroom that provides paid opportunities for students and rising journalists in Southern Arizona. Please consider supporting our work with a tax-deductible donation.

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